Bright Horizon
The Bright Horizon was a heavily modified Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-1300 class Light Freighter owned by Jedi Master Dav Man'Sell. The ship served many purposes in it's time, from freighter and passenger transport through to attack ship and boarding shuttle. Design and Modification The ship started life as a standard Corellian YT-1300fp Light Freighter, but the time it spent unmodified once it's owner, Dav Man'Sell, was in possession of it was less than the journey time between Corellia and the ship's new home on Yavin IV, with Dav purchasing several optional extras before the ship had even left the shipyard, and installing yet more upgrades during the Hyperspace journey. The Bright Horizon was famously known to have had over a million credits spent on modifying her over the course of Dav's first year of ownership, and as a result, was equipped with some of the most advanced technologies it was possible to install inside a ship of it's size. Dav was often known to remark how illegal the ship was, and counted himself lucky that most people would overlook such illegal modifications on a ship owned by a Jedi, and those that wouldn't would normally be the type of person he would want to use the illegal modifications to escape anyway. The ship was often compared to the Millennium Falcon, not just because the Falcon was the most famous ship of the YT-1300 class in the Galaxy, but also because a number of the modifications Dav made to the vessel were made using the Falcon's abilities as a benchmark. Dav had greatly admired Han Solo's ship for several years, and finally being in a position to own such a craft for himself, Dav was eager to bring his own ship up to the Falcon's extraordinary standards. Dipping into the extensive funds he had available - funds he gained through a combination of pay received whilst he was an Emperor's Hand, and money he liberated from the expense accounts he had access to following his escape from the Emperor's control - Dav spent many months labouring over the craft, assisted by his dear friend Ton Phedi and his faithful Astromech R2-D30, installing everything from engine and weapon parts through to luxury seating in the lounge and the finest upholstery for the crew and passenger quarters. Engines and Power Systems The Bright Horizon had some significant upgrades done to the engines, including a complete reworking of the aft drive units. Dav was able to find and acquire several of the same model of engine parts that gave the Millennium Falcon it's distinctive sublight speeds, and the ship was capable of achieving over a thousand kilometres per hour within the atmosphere of a planet. The ship was also given a thorough overhaul of it's control systems and manoeuvring controls, granting the ship fast responses and incredible agility. Dav also installed a powerful, Series 409 Hyperdrive Motivator, which he modified extensively, granting the freighter an impressive .65 Hyperdrive speed. To incorporate all of the advanced and power-intensive modifications, Dav installed an oversized power generator and highly efficient power distribution system. Armaments Armed far beyond the legal standards for a privately owned ship of it's class, the Bright Horizon was more than capable of defending itself, and was even able to take on ships significantly larger and traditionally more powerful than a Light Freighter. The weapons systems were built to be well concealed, granting Dav an element of surprise when entering combat at the controls of his beloved ship. Once again following the lead of the Falcon, Dav installed concussion missile launchers in the ship's forward section, just between the mandibles. Set within the Mandibles themselves was a pair of Taim and Bak KX9 Heavy Laser Cannons with stutter-fire modifications, liberated from the wreckage of an old X-Wing Dav discovered in one of the storage bays beneath The Praxeum's main hanger. Dav also had custom made oversized dorsal and ventral turrets for his craft, in which was installed twin-barrelled Light Turbolasers similar to the ones seen on Imperial Assault shuttles during the Galactic Civil War, giving the ship the fire-power to take on much larger craft. Dav then further modified the turrets, giving them a fast rotational speed and a low-power, rapid fire option roughly equivalent in performance to the AG-2G quad laser cannon, enabling them to be used against starfighters. Dav furthered the modifications by adding a third, stockier barrel to both turrets underneath the main two - this third barrel was an SW-8 series Ion Cannon. The modifications to the turrets were perhaps the most expensive modifications on the Horizon, and alone, they cost the same amount as an entire stock YT-1300 freighter. Towards the end of this year of upgrades, Dav installed the Minelayer and Tractor Beam. The Minelayer dropped the mines from the rear of the craft just behind the ventral turret, and could be equipped with either Chaff, Flare, or Standard Space Mine payloads. Defenses Dav installed a number of defensive upgrades to the ship, including powerful sensor jammers that could block active and passive sensor scans, granting the ship stealth abilities and making it difficult to target with automated targeting systems. The sensor jammers gave the Bright Horizon the ability to avoid missile locks, although they did nothing to counter manual, visual targeting. The Horizon also carried a powerful Novaldex shield generator that functioned as both a ray and particle shield, and was capable of defending against the fire from significantly more powerful vessels. The Horizon was frequently seen to survive weapon hits which would normally have destroyed a standard YT-1300 in one shot, thanks to the power of the shields. The shields however could be bypassed by objects of low mass, speed, and energy output. Beyond the heavy shielding, the Horizon also carried heavy, military grade, Duralloy hull armour that could protect the ship should it's shields be rendered inoperable. Other Systems The ship carried several other systems that set it apart from standard Light Freighters, including Holonet transceivers, a horizontal Bacta-tank, an Astromech Droid interface station in place of one of the two rear cockpit seats, and an IFF Transponder with several interchangeable identities, granting the ship relative anonymity despite it's heavy modifications. The ship also carried a modification to the port-side docking ring which added Phrik-tipped clamps and hull-cutting plasma torches for the purposes of a forceful boarding action. Category:Ships (Individual) Category:Personal Transports Category:Ships